9/11 NR2

Today is a solemn day – the 8th anniversary of the September 11 attacks on New York, Washington DC & Shanksville, PA where so many lost their lives.  I decided to observe the passing of the moment by going out and exercising my freedom to take photos of what I want, where I want, and I wasn’t going to let the rain stop me either.  As things worked out, though, the timing was pretty much perfect to kick things off.

Despite the gloomy weather, I headed out this morning for a quick jaunt to Mill Cove to hopefully shoot Providence & Worcester train NR-2 heading south.  As i left the office, it was barely sprinkling out – OK, not too bad.  But let’s see what it was like up in Ledyard.

When I got to the parking area at Erickson Park, the rain was picking up a bit in intensity – not torrential, but not the sprinkle I was seeing down in Groton.  That’s OK – I just need to adjust the camera settings a bit.

While doing that, I heard horns to the north – must be NR-2.  But they were close – really close.  That only meant that they were already at Red Top!  So I grabbed my cameras, and ran down to the edge of the park.  I left the car running, and on the radio they were preparing for a moment of silence.

Just as I got to the edge of the park, NR-2 appeared.  But they didn’t just appear – they appeared at exactly 8:46AM, which is also the time American Airlines Flight 11 hit the North Tower of the World Trade Center 8 years earlier.  I thought the timing might be close since the radio station was getting ready for a moment of silence.  So I got a series of shots as NR-2 rolled through the rain along Mill Cove, and got back to the car just as the radio came back from the moment of silence.

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After I got back, I verified the time of the shots…weird indeed.

I figured I could make it ahead of them to either the USS Nautilus overlook park, or at the very least Fairview.

As luck had it, I got to the Nautilus overlook just as the crossing gates were dropping at the pedestrian crossing.  I grabbed my gear, and set up a shot – doing one telephoto, and one wider angle shot.

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With those in the bag, I decided to head back to the office.  It sounded like NR-2 was going to be working Fairview for a bit.  So instead of hanging around in the rain, I headed back to the confines of my office.

9/11/2001 – Never Forget

Thanks for  looking!
Tom